via baltimoresun:
The giant mural shows Harriet Tubman extending an encouraging hand to people walking by a Cambridge museum that preserves and showcases her legacy.
Finished Monday, it’s already becoming a hit on social media, and living up to the challenge its painter set for himself.
Just an hour after putting a final protective coating on the mural on an outside wall of the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center, Michael Rosato explained that he felt challenged to depict Tubman, probably the most famous conductor on the pre-Civil War Underground Railroad, in a way that would capture her spirit and engage the viewer.
He chose the moment when she would reach out to a runaway slave, offering her hand to lead that man or woman to freedom.
The mural, he said, would have to capture “the compassion it would take to convince them to take the hand,” as well as “the look of authority, so that they would take it.”
The mural already has started gaining fans. A photograph showing three-year-old Lovie Hope Duncan reaching out to Tubman’s extended hand had attracted 11,000 likes on Twitter by Tuesday, and been retweeted more than 1,900 times.
Many people have felt moved to comment, saying things like “Gave me chills,” “awesome,” “That’s all good stuff there” and “Infinite passing of the baton.”
CLICK HERE to read story
